


Model Behavior

by briewinchester



Series: Fics for Meghan [9]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, Derek is the Alpha, Fluff, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Model AU, Pack Mom Stiles Stilinski, Pack Movie Nights, Slow Build Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Stiles doesn't like the idea and gets sad, Stiles is secretly addicted to Lifetime Movies, The pack suggests that Derek go into modeling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-03
Updated: 2015-07-03
Packaged: 2018-04-07 12:27:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4263258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/briewinchester/pseuds/briewinchester
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All throughout dinner, Lydia kept looking at Derek and going back to her phone. Derek was starting to get frustrated and finally snapped.<br/>“Why in the hell do you keep staring at me?! Do I have something on my face?” he asked as he touched his face, wondering if he missed any pizza sauce.</p>
<p>Lydia glared at him before looking back down at her phone. “No idiot. I was just wondering if you’ve ever considered modeling. That’s all. And I honestly think you should really consider it. If you moved to L.A., I’m sure you would get signed fairly quickly.”</p>
<p>Derek sat in silence while the rest of the pack started making their own comments on the subject, not letting him get a word in edgewise. He sat there on his ratty couch and silently fumed. Yeah, he knew what he looked like. God knows that he heard it from every woman, and the occasional man, whenever he went to the grocery store. He didn’t want the attention in a normal setting so why would Lydia think he should become a model?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Model Behavior

**Author's Note:**

  * For [samandriel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/samandriel/gifts).



> This is for my very best friend in the world who is more like my sister and I love her dearly!
> 
> Hope you enjoy this bby!
> 
> A/N: This work is un-beta'd so all mistakes are mine. Unfortunately, I don't not own Teen Wolf or it's characters. They belong to Jeff Davis and themselves. I just like to play with them for a little while.

It had been an eerily quiet afternoon. No supernatural crisis, no teenage drama of any kind. It felt nice to finally be alone in his own loft that Derek decided to read a book that wasn’t for research purposes. Derek got through half of the book when the loft door slid open and in came the bane of his existence.

Most days Derek seriously regretted having a pack full of teenagers and other days, it was kind of nice. He just wasn’t sure which day this was going to turn out to be. He closed ‘Oliver Twist’, knowing full well that he wouldn’t be able to read with the noise levels and it was frowned upon when he left the room. Placing the book down on the coffee table, he threw his arm over his face as he leaned back into the couch as he waited for the inevitable.

Derek still had a little time for himself as the pack had all gathered into his makeshift kitchen, making enough food to feed an army. Well, everyone except for Lydia. She flounced into the living room, plastic cup in hand, and daintily took a seat on his ratty thrift store couch. Derek peeked out at her out from under his arm. She seemed to be preoccupied with something on her phone. Good. He so did not feel like interacting with her. Not only was Lydia a freaking genius, she was also scary. And Derek had every right to be afraid of the young woman. Alpha or not, he did not want to be on her bad side. No thank you.

They sat in a relative silence for about ten minutes when Lydia put away her phone and turned to look at Derek, slowly raking her eyes up and down his body appraisingly. Satisfied with what she saw, Lydia nodded and went back to fiddling with her phone.

As if Derek wasn’t uncomfortable enough being alone with Lydia, the appraising looks would’ve done it. He acted like he needed to stretch and subtly moved away from the fiery red head. Derek dropped his arms down beside him and blew out a breath, tuning into what was going on in the kitchen.

 

Stiles was trying to maneuver around the people in the kitchen becoming more and more frustrated the more he bumped into people. Finally, he slammed the knife he’d been using down on the countertop, gaining everyone’s attention.

“That’s it! Everyone out! You’re driving me crazy. There are too many people in here and you’re doing nothing to help, so out! Go on, shoo!” he yelled, waving his hands at them.

Still shocked at Stiles’ outburst, the rest of the pack trickled out, one by one. Except for Allison. She silently picked up a knife and began helping Stiles with the chopping. Soon, the both of them began working around each other in perfect sync and everything for homemade pizza was ready to be put together.

Stiles and Allison worked in a comfortable silence, getting the pizzas they had done into the oven before starting on the next batch. Stiles gave Allison a sideways glance before throwing a handful of flour at her. He cackled at her look of surprise as he continued to knead the dough he’d been working on. His smirk turned into surprised indignation as Allison returned the favor. His mouth was hanging open as Allison giggled triumphantly next to him. After he recovered, he broke off a piece of dough and threw it at her.

 

Allison squawked as the sticky dough got stuck in her hair. She narrowed her eyes at Stiles and picked up the spoon they’d been using to spread the pizza sauce on the dough. She raised an eyebrow at him.

 

Stiles immediately stopped laughing and swallowed nervously. He straightened up, narrowing his eyes at her, and lifted his chin in a silent challenge. “You wouldn’t dare.”

 

Allison smirked and lowered her hand to make him think that she had second thoughts. She waited to strike when Stiles had relaxed and went back to work.

 

Stiles squawked, taken completely by surprise, and flailed. He managed to trip over himself and landed hard on his ass. He spluttered as he stared up at a laughing Allison. He glared at her as he stood from the floor. He calmly walked back toward the sink and pulled out the sprayer.

 

Allison looked at Stiles with wide eyes. “You wouldn’t.”

 

“Hide and watch me.” Stiles said as he flipped on the water and sprayed Allison until she was dripping wet.

 

Allison looked like a drowned rat and she glared daggers at Stiles. She moved toward Stiles and wrestled the sprayer from him and doused him as well.

They both paused when Derek yelled out, “You two better clean up every inch of that kitchen!”

They burst out laughing before they finished up the rest of the pizzas and cleaned up the kitchen. As the rest of the pizzas were cooking, Stiles and Allison went to clean themselves up and hang out with their friends.

 

All throughout dinner, Lydia kept looking at Derek and going back to her phone. Derek was starting to get frustrated and finally snapped.

“Why in the hell do you keep staring at me?! Do I have something on my face?” he asked as he touched his face, wondering if he missed any pizza sauce.

 

Lydia glared at him before looking back down at her phone. “No idiot. I was just wondering if you’ve ever considered modeling. That’s all. And I honestly think you should really consider it. If you moved to L.A., I’m sure you would get signed fairly quickly.”

Derek sat in silence while the rest of the pack started making their own comments on the subject, not letting him get a word in edgewise. He sat there on his ratty couch and silently fumed. Yeah, he knew what he looked like. God knows that he heard it from every woman, and the occasional man, whenever he went to the grocery store. He didn’t want the attention in a normal setting so why would Lydia think he should become a model?

 

Stiles had gone back to the kitchen after dinner was finished and washed all the dishes. He’d tuned out most of the conversation from his friends, disinterested in the boring topic and ended up tuning back in later catching the words ‘Derek’ and ‘model’ and ‘L.A.’ in the same sentence.

“Do you know how much they’d pay you for that constant broody look you’ve got going on? Most models have to work really hard to make that face. And it just comes naturally for you. You’d have everyone jealous of your skills.”

Stiles scrunched his face up in confusion. Why was the pack talking about modeling? More importantly, why were they talking about it with Derek?

“Come on man! You can’t sit there and tell me that you wouldn’t want to live in L.A.? Surf, sun and fun? Who wouldn’t want that?”

Stiles furrowed his brow at his best friend’s comment. L.A.? Why would Scott want Derek to go to L.A.? Were they planning on doing some kind of pack outing or something?

“It’d be a good opportunity Derek. You never know unless you try, right? What’s the harm in that?”

Dishes forgotten, Stiles wanted to know more about this conversation. He moved closer to the entrance to the living room, plastering himself to the wall.

“I say go for it. It’d get you out of this stupid town and you’d make a serious fortune.”

The more Stiles listened to this conversation, the more panicked he became. His mind went into overdrive as he started to bite his almost non-existent fingernails. This wasn’t okay. Derek was not allowed to leave hi—here. Derek couldn’t leave hi—his pack.

Stiles didn’t even wait until it was time to go home, he just ran out the door. He ignored the calls from the pack. He just hopped into his jeep and drove home. And if he broke a few speeding laws to get there faster, well, that was nobody’s business but his own.

He parked haphazardly in the driveway in his haste to get inside. Stiles fumbled with his keys to the front door because his hands were shaking so badly. He needed to calm down or else he’ll start having a panic attack. Stiles made his way up to his room and began to pace while chewing on his nails again.

Suddenly, Stiles stopped in the middle of his bedroom as an idea struck him. He scrambled over to his desk, stumbling a little over his feet. He sat down and shuffled through books and notes, trying to find a blank sheet of paper and a pen.

Stiles tapped the pen rapidly on his desk as he tried to come up with some awesome (read: stupid) reasons for Derek to stay in Beacon Hills and not move to L.A. He scrawled a title across the top of the page and started with ten, working his way down the page until he reached number one.

** Top 10 Reasons Derek Hale Should Stay In Beacon Hills **

**10\. Beacon Hills has better apple juice**

**9\. Beacon Hills has quality discount clothing stores**

**8\. That one ice cream shop on Main Street is awesome**

**7\. Beacon Hills has awesome vintage arcade games**

**6\. Did I mention the apple juice?**

**5\. Tons of room for you to run during the full moon**

**4\. Your awesome, amazing, wonderful pack**

**3\. The best curly fries EVER!**

**2\. Its quiet**

**1\. Me**

Sometime in the middle of writing his list, Stiles’ eyes started to droop and the items on his list started to sound stupid. Stiles fell asleep at his desk as soon as he finished the last item. That night, Stiles dreamt of Derek leaving Beacon Hills (and him) behind in the dust as he left for his new life in L.A.

 

The next morning, Scott stopped by the Stilinski household on his way to work to see if Stiles was okay. Scott was concerned with the way Stiles just left last night. He smelled of fear, panic and sadness. Scott didn’t like it, but knew Stiles well enough to give him his space.

Scott entered his best friend’s room to find Stiles asleep at his desk. Scott smiled fondly at his best friend and walked toward him with every intention of waking Stiles. Scott was about to scare the shit out of Stiles when the piece of paper Stiles had fallen asleep on caught his eye.

He quickly scanned it and frowned before it dawned on him and a soft smile adorned his face. Scott and the rest of the pack knew that Derek wasn’t going to go anywhere but Stiles didn’t know that. And that’s when the plan formed in his head and hoped against hope that it wouldn’t get him killed.

Now, see, Scott may be oblivious to what’s going on outside his ‘Allison is my everything’ bubble, but he wasn’t blind nor was he stupid. Scott knew that both Stiles and Derek had the hots for each other but they both were too stubborn to do anything about it. So, if they wouldn’t admit that they were in love with each other on their own, then the pack would just have to give them a gentle (forceful) shove in the right direction.

A smirk replaced the smile on Scott’s face as his plan began to form and he silently backed out of Stiles’ room and left the Stilinski house for the animal clinic. Halfway to the clinic, he really hoped this worked and that Allison and Lydia could come up with a game plan on such short notice.

 

An hour later, Stiles jerked awake with a loud cry. Once Stiles got his wits about him and woke up a bit, he realized he’d been crying. He quickly wiped his face, angry at himself for getting so worked up over a relationship that’ll probably never happen.

Why does he do this to himself? Why does he always fall for the unobtainable, unfairly beautiful people? He sighed and looked down at his desk and spied his list sitting there, staring at him mockingly. Stiles glared at it and reached out for it before crumpling it up into a ball and tossed it in his garbage can.

Stiles shoved away from his desk and gathered up some clothes and headed for the shower. While he was in the shower, he couldn’t stop thinking about his dream. Clear headed, Stiles realized just how much it hurt to watch Derek leave. Even now, Stiles could feel the absence and ache of longing deep in his chest.

He quickly washed up and turned off the water and dried off. He dressed quickly and returned to his bedroom and flopped face down on his mattress. Stiles closed his eyes for a moment and his dream filtered back into his mind, only this time, it was a little bit different.

 

-*-*-*-*-*-

**_Stiles was walking through town, headed toward the ice cream parlor. He left the shop, ice cream in hand, when he spotted them. They were across the street at the only expensive restaurant Beacon Hills had to offer, C’est la Amore. Stiles stared at them as his ice cream melted all down his fingers. The cone slipped from his slack fingers as he made his way across the street to his friends._ **

**_“Hey guys! Long time no see, huh? So, what have you guys been up to?”_ **

**_One by one, they all turned around to stare at Stiles with confused, blank looks. All of them looked at the other, trying to gain any kind of help in recognizing this kid, but got nothing._ **

**_Finally, Derek broke the silence. “I’m sorry, do we know you?”_ **

**_It felt as if Stiles had been punched in the gut, knocking the breath clean out of him. He could feel the tears welling up in his eyes at his friends’ unrecognition. He pushed them down before he spoke again._ **

**_“You don’t recognize me? Like at all? Guys, it’s me, Stiles. Remember? I’ve saved all of your asses on more than one occasion. Is any of this ringing a bell?” he asked, his voice raising an octave higher._ **

**_The rest of the pack stared at him, blank faces still firmly in place, before recognition slowly set in. Scott’s face lit up._ **

**_“OH! Hey man!”_ **

**_Derek’s frown deepened as he finally placed him. “Right. I remember now. You were that annoying kid who followed the pack around like a little lost puppy and had the biggest, most obvious crush on me. It was pathetic really, the way you would make heart eyes at me and act like I hung the fucking moon. Well, this has been fun, but we have a party to get to.”_ **

**_They started to walk away and Stiles called after them. “Hey, could I come with you?” he chose to ignore Derek’s earlier jab, even though it fucking hurt like hell._ **

**_Lydia turned to him, eyes roaming slowly over his body, silently judging him. When her eyes came back up to Stiles’ face, she had on her fake sweet smile._ **

**_“How cute, but no. It’s for models only and frankly, you’d never get through the door to an agency. I mean, you’re cute and all, but that could only go so far. And let’s face it, you’re probably still a virgin and the only modeling job you’d be able to get would be for a lumberjack magazine with all the plaid you’re wearing.”_ **

**_The rest of the pack snickered at the look of shock on Stiles’ face as they continued to walk away. Derek stayed behind for a minute longer and looked at Stiles._ **

**_“Listen, it’s not because we don’t want you there, but it’s a work thing and you probably wouldn’t have any fun. And Lydia does have a point. This life isn’t for everyone and it was probably for the best that you didn’t come with us. Bye Stiles.”_ **

**_Stiles watched through tear filled eyes as Derek walked away from him, yet again. He continued to stare as Derek joined the others as they all piled into a limo. Stiles finally let the tears fall as he watched them leave, feeling that sense of loneliness surround him like an old, worn blanket._ **

-*-*-*-*-*-

Stiles jolted upright in his bed with a loud cry, tears streaming down his face and an ache in his chest the size of Texas. He sat in the middle of his bed, knees pulled in tightly to himself, and the tears flowed freely down his cheeks. He hadn’t felt this deeply hurt since his mom died and great, now he was crying for a whole nother reason.

Stiles tried to keep himself calm; he really didn’t want to have a panic attack on top of all this emotional shit right now. As minutes faded into hours, Stiles had come to the conclusion that it would be best if he stayed away from the pack. Just for a little while. He didn’t want them sticking their wolfy noses all up in his business.

Stiles stood from his bed to head downstairs to get a drink, when the scrunched up paper in his trash bin caught his attention. He bent over and picked it up, gently unraveling it so he didn’t rip it. He looked down at the list and felt that ache in his chest grow bigger and the tears start to well up again as his mind went off in a thousand different directions of why Derek would never want someone like him.

He crumpled it up again and threw it back angrily in the trash before stomping his way downstairs. For once, he was glad that his dad wasn’t home to witness his almost emotional meltdown. That was just embarrassing. He grabbed a bottle of water and decided to curl up on the couch and watch Lifetime movies (don’t judge. It’s a guilty pleasure, okay?).

 

Scott finished his shift at the animal clinic and went to meet Allison over at Lydia’s to brainstorm ways to get Derek and Stiles together. But first, he stopped by the pizza shop and picked up some pizzas. He had a feeling that this was going to take a while.

He pulled up outside Lydia’s twenty minutes later, balancing six pizza boxes on the handle bars of his motorbike. He let himself inside and headed up to Lydia’s room.

Allison looked up when the door opened and smiled when Scott entered. “Hey! Pizza! Oh my god, I’m starving! Thank you.” She hopped off the bed and grabbed the pizza from him and kissed his cheek.

 

Scott had a dopey grin on his face. “You’re welcome. I figured this would take a while. Anyway, Stiles thinks that Derek is actually going to go to L.A.”

 

Lydia and Allison paused in their eating to look at Scott. “And why would he think something like that?” Lydia asked.

 

Allison answered before Scott could. “Because Stiles heard us talking the other day about Derek going to L.A. to become a model. And he must’ve thought that we were serious.”

 

Scott nodded. “Yep. I went over there this morning to check up on him because when he left last night he smelled like fear, panic and sadness. Anyway, I found him asleep at his desk and he had written down ten reasons why Derek should stay.”

 

Lydia looked at Scott. “And what do you want us to do?”

 

Scott sat down next to Allison and grabbed a slice of pizza. “We need to give those two a shove in the right direction. We all know that they are totally in love with each other, but they’ll never do anything about it. At least not by themselves.”

 

“Yeah, I have noticed that Stiles can’t look at Derek for long periods and he fidgets more. But I haven’t seen anything from Derek.” Allison said.

 

“He’s just very good at hiding it, but I can smell it rolling off of him when he and Stiles are in the same room.” Scott stated.

The room went silent after that as they started brainstorming ideas. A few times, Scott lit up with an idea before deflating and shaking his head.

 

Lydia put her pizza crust into the box and wiped her hands on a napkin. “Okay, here’s what’s going to happen. We are going to keep playing this out, making sure that we act like Derek is going to L.A. when Stiles is around. Eventually, Stiles will confess everything to Derek once he sees that Derek is leaving.”

 

Allison lit up at the idea but Scott wasn’t getting it. “But, Derek isn’t leaving.”

 

Allison took pity on him and patted his shoulder. “Scott, we are going to trick Stiles into thinking that Derek is leaving so that Stiles will finally reveal his feelings for Derek.”

 

Scott ran the words through his head a minute before smiling brightly at the two girls. “OH! Okay. Yeah, that’ll work. Now, who gets to tell the rest of the pack?”

Lydia and Allison stare at him with identical smirks on their faces. Scott’s smile fell. “Aw c’mon guys! Why does it always have to be me?” he whined. He pouted as the girls laughed at him and continued eating their pizza.

 

 

Stiles spent hours in front of the tv until his father came home with dinner. “You better have a salad in that bag old man.”

 

Sheriff John Stilinski stared at his only son. “Stiles, if I want to have a cheeseburger and fries, I will have a damn cheeseburger and fries.”

Stiles stared at his dad, eyebrows raised and arms crossed. John sighed and tossed Stiles the bag with his food in it. “Okay fine. I did get a salad. Are you happy? I can’t even eat a burger anymore and this rabbit food is nowhere near filling enough.”

 

Stiles pulled out his burger and large order of curly fries and pointed at his father. “You can always eat a veggie burger. And besides, I’m trying to keep you alive. You’ll thank me for it when you’re still alive to see your grandchildren.”

 

John hummed and sat down in his recliner and ate his salad. After he finished, he finally noticed what Stiles had been watching. “Aw hell. Alright, what’s wrong?”

 

Stiles looked up at his dad with a mouthful of curly fries, eyes wide. He quickly chewed and swallowed. “What? W-why would you think that there’s something wrong? Nothing is wrong. Everything is as right as rain in Stiles world.”

 

“Stiles”, John said firmly and waited until he had his son’s attention. “You’re watching Lifetime movies. And by the looks of all the garbage littering the table, you’ve been watching them all day. I remember exactly two other times that this happened. Once, when Lydia flat out rejected you face to face. And second was when Scott and Allison started dating. So spill it.”

 

Stiles fidgeted and played with the hem of his t-shirt. What could he say? _‘Oh hey dad, by the way, I’m completely in love with Derek Hale and he might be going to L.A. to become a model and then forget all about me.’_ Oh yeah, that would go over well.

 

“Stiles? Explain.” John said, already getting exasperated with Stiles’ games.

 

Stiles let out a nervous breath. “Okay, so, we were at Derek’s place yesterday for a pack meeting. I overheard them telling Derek that he should move to L.A. and become a model.”

 

John leaned forward and grabbed the remote and shut the television off. He silenced his son when it looked like he was about to protest. “Okay, so why does that constitute an all-day Lifetime movie binge?”

 

Stiles scrubbed the back of his neck and he jumped up off the couch and began to pace. “Imightbeinlovewithhimandheddoesn’tknow.” He said quickly.

 

John had to take a moment to decipher what his kid just said, and when he did, he sighed and rubbed his forehead. “Aw hell kid. Did you really have to choose the one with the criminal record?”

 

Stiles turned on his heel and pointed his finger in his dad’s direction. “He was exonerated! How many times do we have to go over this?!” he sighed and let his shoulders slump as he looked down at the floor. “And it’s not like I immediately fell in love with him, not like I did with Lydia. No. This happened gradually.”

 

John sat forward, elbows resting on his knees, and rubbed his hands over his face and up into his hair. “Okay, so, explain to me why you can’t just tell him how you feel?”

 

Stiles whipped his head up and looked at his dad, an affronted look on his face. “Do you want him to rip my throat out?! With his teeth! God, dad it’s like you don’t know anything! I can’t tell him I’m in love with him because I choose life!”

 

John stared at Stiles with the most unamused look on his face. “Stop being so melodramatic kid. And, correct me if I’m wrong, but won’t Derek be able to scent your attraction anyway?”

 

Stiles’ eyes went deer caught in the headlights wide and froze in his spot. “Oh shit. You’re absolutely right. I’m dead. I am so fucking dead. Good-bye father. It had been nice knowing ya. I leave all my worldly possessions to Scott and the rest of the pack can fight over what Scott doesn’t want.”

 

The sheriff rolled his eyes and stood, placing his hands on Stiles’ shoulders to stop him from his frantic pacing. “First of all, watch your language young man. Second, calm down. You’re getting all worked up over nothing. I’m sure if you just talked to Derek, like the supposed adult you are, then you’ll see that there was absolutely nothing to worry about.”

 

Stiles stared at his dad in disbelief, raising his eyebrow for added effect. “You know something, don’t you?” he looked at his dad closely and gasped. “Oh my god! You do! Why aren’t you telling me?!”

 

John chuckled at Stiles and patted him on the shoulder. “This is something you need to figure out on your own. Besides, I’m sworn to secrecy so you’re out of luck.” John loved watching his kid squirm. It was a simple joy in his life. He already knew about Derek’s side of the story. He was the Sheriff after all; it was his job to be observant. Besides, he needed to know what Derek’s intentions were with his son. John gave Stiles one last pat before he headed for the stairs. “Just think about it, okay? I’ll see you in the morning. I’m beat. Good-night son.”

 

“Night dad.” Stiles said as his father disappeared up the staircase. He flopped down on the couch as he mulled over his father’s words. Frustrated, he grabbed the tv remote and turned it back on and went back to his movie binge, grumbling about how his dad made him miss the ending of his other movie and now he doesn’t know what’s going on in the next one. “Thanks dad.” He mumbled.

 

Lydia invited the rest of the pack to her place a few days later, leaving Derek out of it of course, and they all stared at Scott. Scott took a deep breath and addressed his fellow pack mates. “Okay, the reason why you all are here is because we are going to get Stiles and Derek together. So, the plan that Lydia had come up with is to keep up the ruse that Derek is going to leave Beacon Hills to become a model. And Stiles or Derek cannot find out about this.”

 

Erica was excited about this. She couldn’t wait to see her Alpha and her Batman get together. The sexual tension between those two was stifling and getting on everybody’s nerves. They needed to sex each other up a long time ago. Seriously. The sexual tension between those two was so thick that they’d need a machete to cut through it.

 

Jackson, of course, couldn’t care less about Stiles and his Alpha. “I don’t give a fuck about Stilinski’s love life, but if it gets Derek to stop eye fucking Stilinski all the damn time then I’m in.”

 

Lydia glared at her boyfriend. “That was real eloquent Jackson. But thank you for the support.”

 

Isaac, Boyd, Kira and Malia all shrugged with happy smiles on their faces. Scott smiled his adorable puppy smile and bounced up and down on the tips of his toes. “Awesome! I just hope that this works and doesn’t come back to bite me in the ass.”

 

Lydia looked over at Scott. “You know, in case this thing does blow up in your face, you should have that ‘list’ Stiles wrote on hand so you can give it to Derek.”

 

“Yeah, yeah. That’s a great idea. Thanks Lydia!” Scott smiled at her.

 

Derek sat alone in his loft, silence surrounding him as the pack were all at Lydia’s for the day. A small smile formed on his face as he picked up his book to finish reading. An hour into reading, he couldn’t concentrate because Derek couldn’t stop thinking about what Lydia said the other day about him becoming a model. It was pointless. He wasn’t cut out to be a model.

Well, Lydia did have a few points. He knew how he looked. Derek wasn’t blind. He did own a mirror. And yes, he could pull off the broody look but he just didn’t think he could be the type of person they needed him to be. Too much shit had happened to him over the years and it was better that he didn’t involve anyone in it. And his pack doesn’t count.

And then there was Stiles. Derek slammed his book shut and threw it on the coffee table as he thought about the infuriating, most annoying, beautiful boy he’d ever laid his eyes on. He groaned and wiped his hands over his face. He’d already had the most awkward conversation with the Sheriff about his feelings for Stiles. Surprisingly, that was an easy conversation and ended up getting the Sheriff’s blessing. But when it came to Stiles, he just couldn’t get the words out. How did this, this kid get passed all his walls and defenses? It bothered him when Stiles left his loft a few days ago smelling like panic, fear and sadness. But Derek could also detect something more. It smelled like loneliness. And it made Derek’s wolf whine and want to go and make sure that Stiles was okay.

 

After his movie binge, Stiles avoided the pack at all costs. He wouldn’t say that he was moping per say, but he was totally moping. He didn’t want to hear any more about Derek moving away because it would hurt too much. He hated feeling that ache deep in his chest where he felt Derek should be but Stiles just didn’t see it happening.

So Stiles spent his days cleaning the house from top to bottom; doing laundry, washing dishes, cooking and eating junk food as he marathoned Lifetime movies. Okay he’ll admit it; this was a little bit harder to get over from than it was for Lydia. Sue him. But please don’t because he really can’t afford all the legal fees and court fees. Anyway. As the days went on, it was getting closer to the next pack meeting/bonding night. It was movie night and it was Stiles’ turn to pick the movie. He’d been looking forward to this for weeks because he was finally going to get Scott to watch Star Wars.

Stiles was torn. He really wanted to go, but then again, he didn’t because he was afraid of the conversation topic. In the end, he decided to go and he could just leave if things got too hard to handle. He put the DVDs into his bag and went to the kitchen and gathered all the fixings for sandwiches and his homemade brownies. Stiles grabbed his keys and headed out to his jeep and drove over to Derek’s. He was always the first to arrive so he could have the food already made for after pack business was discussed.

 

Derek was busy getting the loft set up for the meeting/bonding time. He’d never admit it to anyone but he enjoyed spending time with his pack, even though he said differently. He pulled out the bean bag chairs that the pack brought over and extra pillows and blankets.

He set them up around the couch and big chair he had and made sure that the DVD player was hooked up to the television. Despite what Stiles said, Derek was very adept with technology. After he finished, he heard Stiles’ jeep pull in the lot and his wolf yipped in excitement. He’d never felt his wolf get so excited like this in a long time. He had to stop himself from running to the door and tackling Stiles to the ground and scenting the boy. As calmly as he could, Derek walked over to the metal door and slid it open.

 

Stiles climbed the stairs leading to Derek’s loft because the genius who designed this building thought it would be awesome to not build an elevator. By the time Stiles reached Derek’s door, he was sweaty and panting. He sighed in relief when he saw the door was already opened. “Bless you Derek Hale.” He muttered under his breath.

He walked into Derek’s makeshift kitchen and got to work. He really hoped that he could get through this night without having to hear about how Derek would be the perfect model and that Derek should move away from him. He paused in slicing the tomatoes to will that thought away. He finished with the sandwich fixings and moved on to making the brownies. Halfway through mixing up the brownie batter, Stiles heard a few members of the pack walk in talking and laughing.

Stiles braced himself for the conversation he’d been dreading ever since the last pack meeting. He ignored the pack and continued his brownie prep. Eventually the rest of the pack trickled in and claimed their spots in the living room and Stiles put the brownies in the oven and began making the sandwiches. Each pack member had specific tastes and a certain way they all liked their sandwiches prepared. He lost himself in the concentration and rhythm he had going to pay attention to the conversation going on in the living room.

 

The pack was all sprawled out in their designated spots across the living room. They made sure to leave the small loveseat open for just Derek and Stiles to share. Lydia kept a keen eye on Derek and watched as he sat on the loveseat. Now was an excellent time to execute their plan. “So Derek. Have you given any thought to what we last talked about?”

 

Derek looked over at the red head and crossed his arms over his chest. “I did and it does sound like something I could do very well, but I just don’t know.”

 

Well, Lydia did not factor this into her plan, but she could totally work with this. “Oh come on Derek. Why wouldn’t you want to do it? I mean, you’d get free stuff, get invited to all the parties, movie premiers, maybe star in a movie and you’d get to travel the world and meet all the designers and celebrities! Why wouldn’t you want that?”

 

Derek really hadn’t thought about all that. That was very enticing and made Derek have second thoughts about all this. “I didn’t even think about any of that stuff. I guess I’ll have to think about it some more.”

 

Lydia smiled brightly and snuggled up closer to Jackson. “Okay. You can call me if you change your mind and we’ll talk some more.”

 

Stiles quietly walked back into the kitchen. That was exactly what he was afraid of. What was he supposed to do now? He couldn’t just leave. The meeting hadn’t even started yet. He finished making the platters of sandwiches in time to pull out the brownies from the oven. He put them on some pot holders on the counter so they could cool.

Stiles moved over to the cupboard and pulled down the cups specifically designated for the pack. He pulled out the drinks from the refrigerator and poured each pack member their favorite drink. One final task and the meeting could officially begin. He went to Derek’s makeshift pantry and brought down the chips. He fished around until he found the snack bowls and dumped the chips inside them.

Once everything was to his liking, he went to the living room so they could get the meeting started. All through the meeting, Stiles’ mind was somewhere else completely. He couldn’t stop thinking about his nightmares and the conversation he overheard from Lydia and Derek. Stiles finally came back to reality when the pack all stood up and went to the kitchen to grab the snacks and food that he made.

Stiles wasn’t in the mood for a Star Wars marathon anymore. He just wanted to go home and curl up in his bed and never come out. He didn’t want to dampen the mood so Stiles forced down all his feelings and plastered on a smile before going into the kitchen.

Stiles stopped in the doorway and watched his pack fight over who had the best sandwich and snack to go with it. He smiled softly as he shook his head fondly. He walked into the kitchen and over to his brownies and started cutting them up. It didn’t take long before the pack stopped their bickering and crowd around him, practically salivating at the smell of chocolate and Stiles’ homemade peanut butter frosting.

It always put a smile on his face to see his pack so happy with his cooking. He piled the brownies he wanted on to his plate before he stepped back to let the vultures descend on to his brownie goodness. He walked over to the other counter and watched as his brownies were fought over and devoured like they were going out of style. Stiles chuckled and set his plate down before picking up his own sandwich and ate.

 

It always surprised Derek at how detail-oriented Stiles was. Stiles knew what every pack member liked on their sandwich and knew exactly how they liked them to be prepared. Derek would stand back and watch as Stiles took care of their pack and—what? Since when did he start thinking about the pack as his and Stiles’? Maybe he should take Lydia up on her offer and move to L.A. He needed to get away for a bit and sort things through.

 

Stiles finished his sandwich and was working on his brownies as he watched the pack fight over the last two pieces. He smirked when he watched Derek walk calmly in between the betas and snatched the last two brownies. Stiles laughed at the shocked looks on the pack’s faces.

“You know Derek, as the Alpha, you are supposed to eat first then the betas, then omegas and then the humans.” Stiles said as he wiped away a few tears.

 

Derek stared at Stiles, his wolf yipping in joy that their mate knew pack dynamics. He cleared his throat. “Um, well, the Alpha and Alpha mate eat first and then the betas, omegas and humans. But, I’m glad you’ve been learning pack dynamics Stiles. Good work.”

 

Stiles preened at the praise from his Alpha. It felt good knowing that Derek was impressed with his knowledge. He felt a slight blush forming over his cheeks. Stiles cleared his throat before he embarrassed himself any further. “Okay, um, let’s gather into the living room for movie night. It’s my turn and this is going to be good.”

Everyone groaned as they slowly filed into the living room. Lydia silently directed everyone to make sure that Stiles and Derek had to sit together. Stiles was fiddling with the tv and DVD player and getting the first Star Wars movie put in. This was his one and only chance to get Scott to watch this movie.

When he turned around, the only spot available was next to Derek. He glared at the pack before he sat down on the very small loveseat beside Derek. Stiles hit the play button on the remote. He smirked at the resounding groans as the Star Wars theme played through the speakers.

“Oh shut up. It was my turn to pick the movie this week. And I swear to god Scott, if you so much as think about making out with your girlfriend, I will revoke all best bro privileges.” Stiles stated while pointing at Scott.

 

Scott pouted at his best friend. “But Stiles!” he whined.

 

Stiles held his finger up. “Don’t ‘but Stiles’ me. You are going to sit right there and watch this movie and you will like it!”

 

Scott leaned against Allison and pouted. “Fine, but I’m choosing the movie next time.”

 

Stiles grinned triumphantly and settled in next to Derek to watch the greatness that was Star Wars. By the time the movie was over, Stiles hadn’t realized that he’d gotten closer to Derek to the point where he was practically in the wolf’s lap.

He coughed and blushed furiously as he slid back over to his side of the loveseat. Stiles looked over at Scott to get his reaction and glared at the beta wolf. “Scott! Did you not hear a single word I said before I started this movie?”

 

Scott immediately pulled away from Allison’s lips and gaped up at Stiles. “I’m sorry! I just couldn’t help it! I was bored and Allison just smelled so good…”

 

Stiles held up his hand. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Excuse me? Did I hear you say that you were bored?! How could you be bored?! This is the best movie of it’s time! I just—I can’t look at you right now. Somebody pick a movie because I am not wasting the greatest movie series in cinematic history on such an uncultured swine.”

 

Derek was trying so hard to hold in his laughter in at the exchange between Stiles and Scott. The rest of the pack was in hysterics as Scott tried to get back into Stiles’ good graces. It warmed Derek’s heart to see his pack so happy and harmonious and able to joke around and just able to be teenagers without the threat of death looming over their heads.

 

Stiles tried with all his might to ignore Scott’s puppy dog face, but he couldn’t stay mad at his best bro for very long. Stiles launched himself at Scott, initiating a wrestling match which the whole pack joined in on eventually before it turned into laughter and puppy piles on the floor.

Stiles looked over at the loveseat where Derek still sat, watching his pack fondly. Before Stiles could stop himself, he was reaching out to the wolf. “Come on Sourwolf. Get down here and bond with your pack.”

 

Derek hesitated a few minutes before he stood and walked over to the pack. He stood there a minute before a smirk broke out on his face. He didn’t give the pack a chance to move before he pounced, landing on top of them. He was reminded of when he was just a little pup, wrestling around with Peter and his siblings and little cousins. This felt good. He forgot how freeing it was to just let go and act like the teenager he didn’t get to be after the fire.

 

Stiles laughed and rolled around on the floor with the pack trying, and failing, to pin them to the ground. He screeched when he was captured from behind and pulled away from the others. Stiles looked over his shoulder at Derek, his chest filling with warmth at the look of pure joy and contentment radiating from the Alpha wolf.

He settled back against Derek and watched their pack play and romp around. He was so happy that he didn’t care that he was practically in Derek’s lap and thinking like he was the Alpha Mate. He could only dream.

 

Once Derek had Stiles in his arms, he didn’t want to let the teen go. His wolf was practically purring at having their mate so close. Derek had never felt this content and safe since he moved back to Beacon Hills. He also never expected to have a pack again. Granted, they weren’t perfect, but that was just fine with him.

Derek finally came out of his thoughts to the realization that he was practically mauling the teen’s neck. He pulled back and laughed nervously but he couldn’t bring himself to let go of the teen.

 

Stiles really didn’t want to leave the wolf’s arms but it was getting late and he needed to take care of an inappropriate boner beginning to form. “Well, this has been fun and all, but if we’re not going to watch another movie, then I’m going to head home.”

 

Scott looked over at his best friend and tackled both Stiles and Derek to the ground. “No! You have to stay! Please? I promise that I’ll pay attention through another Star Trek movie.”

 

“Oh my god! It’s Star Wars! How hard is that for you to comprehend? No. You don’t get to watch Star Wars. You are unworthy of its cinematic greatness.” Stiles screeched.

He turned away from Scott and looked over at Lydia. “My beautiful Red Queen, would you do us the honor of choosing the next movie?”

 

Jackson snapped his head over in Stiles’ direction, a panicked look on his face. “Why in the hell would you do that Stilinski?! She’s just going to pick…”

 

“The Notebook.” Lydia interrupted Jackson with a smirk on her face.

 

The rest of the guys groaned as Erica and Allison cheered. Kira shrugged as she settled next to Malia.

 

Malia looked at everyone with confusion. “Um, what’s The Notebook?”

 

Lydia whirled around to face her with a sympathetic look on her face. “Oh sweetheart. You have some catching up to do.”

 

Stiles was happy to continue to snuggle with the Alpha wolf and nearly whined when Derek made to move away. He gripped Derek’s wrist and settled more against the warmth that Derek was radiating. “Don’t move. I’m comfortable.”

 

Derek smiled softly and gathered up some pillows and blankets for them both and settled down as he pulled Stiles closer to him. Derek could totally get used to this, but there was no way that he could let himself get attached. So, after tonight, he’d go back to the way things were. No matter how much his wolf protested.

 

Stiles was too focused on Derek’s arms wrapped around him to pay any attention to the movie. He never felt as safe as he did right then. He snuggled back into the warmth of the wolf and wrapped his arms around Derek’s, lacing their fingers together and hoped Derek wouldn’t rip his fingers off. He sighed contentedly when Derek gripped his fingers back and finally focused on the movie to see what was happening.

By the time the movie was over, half the pack was in tears, including Stiles and Malia. Stiles could’ve swore that he heard some sniffles coming from Derek at certain points of the movie, but he chose not to comment on it, valuing his life. Stiles, on the other hand, could care less if the pack saw him cry. He was secure enough in his masculinity to allow himself to cry at the so called ‘chick flicks’. He wiped his tears away and let out a big yawn.

“So, we watching movies all night til we fall asleep or are we just going to call it a night?”

 

Derek stirred from his spot behind Stiles to move over toward his DVD cabinet. He searched the titles until he found the one he was looking for and brought it over to the DVD player and switched out the discs. He walked back to the pack and took his spot back behind Stiles and waited for the movie to begin.

 

Stiles smiled softly and snuggled back into Derek. “So, I take it we’re watching movies until we fall asleep?”

 

Derek grunted and tightened his hold on Stiles’ waist. “Shh, just watch the movie.”

 

For once, Stiles listened to Derek and hunkered down in the makeshift blanket fort. He watched as the movie began and smiled when the words ‘The Princess Bride’ flashed across the screen.

He quietly nudged Derek as he looked over his shoulder. “I knew you were a giant softie underneath that gruff exterior.”

 

Derek felt himself blush and focused back on the movie. “Shut up and watch the movie.”

 

Stiles chuckled softly and settled down to watch one of his favorite movies. He remembered when he was little, Stiles and his mom would watch it before she would put him down for a nap. And watching it now with the pack, it felt like his mom was here with him. He didn’t remember closing his eyes or when he fell asleep, but it was the best sleep he’d ever gotten.

 

Over the next few weeks, Stiles was happier but he was also confused. He was happy because none of the pack had mentioned Derek leaving again. But ever since the night of the pack meeting/movie night, Derek went back to how he was before.

Sure, he interacted with the pack more, but Stiles could tell that Derek was trying to keep his distance. And boy didn’t that just shoot down his self-esteem. Well, at least he knew that he made an excellent cuddle buddy. And that Derek just wasn’t that into him. So another Saturday was wasted in front of the tv with his Lifetime movies.

 

Lydia had not forgotten the looks of pure contentment on both Stiles and Derek’s faces at pack movie night. In fact, she even took a picture of the two of them snuggled up together as they slept. This was what she was working toward. She wanted her friend and their Alpha to be happy, but she wanted them to be happy together. And the proof of that was in the picture. They needed to step up their game if they wanted this to work.

Lydia had a feeling that if she could convince Derek to go, then she was sure that Stiles would be able to convince him to stay. She put her phone down and picked up the crinkled piece of paper that Scott had given to her at movie night. She shook her head fondly at the stupid reasons that Stiles came up with to make Derek stay. It was such a Stiles thing to do.

She was interrupted from her thoughts by the sound of her phone ringing. Lydia was surprised by who was calling. “Derek. This is a surprise. What can I do for you?”

 

Derek had been thinking about this a lot, despite his wolf’s protests. He decided to give the modeling thing a try. So he called Lydia. “Okay. I want to give this modeling thing a try, but I need your help. I don’t know how to get started.”

 

Even though Lydia was hoping for this, she was still shocked. All she could think about was how crushed Stiles was going to be when he found out about this. She smirked.

“You don’t worry about a thing. I’ll take care of everything.” She hung up with Derek and sent a mass text to the rest of the pack.

**_To: Isaac, Scott, Allison, Jackson, Boyd, Erica, Malia, Kira_ **

**_Derek is actually going to do it. If we want to get them together, we need to do it fast before it’s too late. I’ll stall as much as I can._ **

She hit send and went back to her scheming. Over the next few minutes, Lydia got responses from the pack wondering what their next move was going to be. She smirked as she replied.

**_To: Isaac, Scott, Allison, Jackson, Boyd, Erica, Malia, Kira_ **

**_I have a few things in mind. For now, just keep talking about it whenever you’re with Stiles. I’ll keep you updated._ **

With that being said, she got on her laptop and immediately began searching for an agent, photography studios and modeling agencies looking for new models. She wrote down a few prospects and planned on giving them to Derek at the next pack meeting.

 

 

Stiles paused the television so he could go to the bathroom and then get something to eat. He came back into the living room and settled back into his nest of pillows and blankets. Stiles picked up the remote and resumed his movie marathon. He curled up beneath the blankets, trying to forget how good it felt being wrapped up in Derek’s solid arms, surrounded in Derek’s warmth. Dammit. If he wanted to cry he would’ve watched the Hallmark channel.

He wiped at his eyes furiously and ate his ice cream as he tried to get back into the plot of the movie. Once he finished his ice cream, he snuggled back down into his blankets. He groaned when his phone alerted him that he had a new text.

Stiles pulled his hand out from under his blanket to grab his phone. He turned it on to see that there was a text from his dad.

**_To: Stiles_ **

**_Hey kiddo. I’m pulling a double tonight so you are on your own for dinner. You can use some of the emergency money to order a pizza if you’d like. See you tomorrow kid._ **

Stiles sighed as he unlocked his phone and sent a reply to his dad.

**_To: Dad_ **

**_Okay. Don’t eat any junk food. I have perfectly placed spies at the station and I will know. Be safe._ **

Stiles locked his phone and went back to his movie. He didn’t even care that the movies had started to repeat. Stiles stared mindlessly at the television screen as the movies played and his eyes grew heavier and he hadn’t realized they closed or when he fell asleep.

When Stiles woke up, it was darker outside and his stomach was growling. He sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and looked at the time on his phone. 10 pm. Damn. He didn’t realize he slept that long. He stretched and crawled out from under his blanket nest.

Stiles walked into the kitchen and over to the empty sugar bowl and pulled out some money for a pizza and maybe some wings. He pulled out his phone and made the call and gave his order. After that, he now had thirty minutes to kill so he decided to clean up a bit. Stiles cleaned the entire kitchen and his mess he made in the living room.

Stiles sat at the kitchen table and held his phone in his hand, waiting for his food to arrive. His mind wandered to the pack meeting a few weeks ago. He wished that it could be like that all the time. Now that he had a taste of what life could be like with Derek, Stiles didn’t want to let it go. Lost in his thoughts, he was startled at the sound of the doorbell. He grabbed the money and walked to the front door, paid, and brought his food into the living room and burrowed back beneath his blankets.

Stiles settled down and ate his pizza and wings as one of his favorite movies started.

 

Derek had spent the last few weeks thinking and pacing the length of his loft. He could barely sleep, so he paced. He wondered if he was making the right decision by leaving. It wasn’t like he was leaving for good. He would come back. Derek just wanted to give this a try and see if it could go anywhere. That’s all this was. But why did it feel like it was wrong?

_‘Because Mate is here and we cannot leave Mate.’_

Derek growled. ‘Shut up. Stiles is not our Mate so just drop it.’ He argued.

_‘But he is! I would not lie to you. He is perfect for us. We must stay here and make Mate ours.’_

‘I’m leaving. And that’s final.’ Derek told his wolf and went to his room to pack his bags, hoping that Lydia came through with the information.

After that, Derek didn’t hear another thing from his wolf. He wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing yet. Derek shrugged his shoulders and continued to pack his stuff. This upcoming pack meeting was going to suck because that was when he was telling the pack that he was leaving. He knew the pack would be supportive of this decision because it was their idea. But Stiles on the other hand, Derek knew that the teen would put up a fight, but this wasn’t about Stiles. This was about Derek doing something for himself for a change.

Once he was all packed, he sat on his bed and rubbed his hands over his face before pushing them through his hair. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Derek had the feeling that this was a very bad decision. He growled and pushed his wolf’s feelings aside and turned to face the wall to get some sleep.

 

By the time the next pack meeting rolled around, Stiles didn’t want to go. He had a really bad feeling that something big was going to happen if he showed up. He’d been anxious and jumpy all day and he cleaned the house twice. He was now sitting on the couch, chewing on his nails and his leg was bouncing at a hundred miles an hour.

He didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t go over there and just pretend that everything was hunky dory and make food for the pack like he always did. Stiles couldn’t go over there reeking of anxiety and whatever else he’s feeling at the moment. He didn’t want the wolves to ask him a bunch of questions he didn’t want to answer.

Stiles finally pulled his hand away from his mouth when he tasted blood. He didn’t realize how long he’d been chewing on his nails. Stiles had been so lost in his thoughts that he lost track of time and the pack meeting was in an hour. Dammit. He must be a secret masochist or something because he went into the kitchen to gather all the ingredients for tonight’s meal.

He packed them all up and headed out to the jeep and drove over to Derek’s loft. That feeling of anxiety and dread just got stronger and stronger the closer he got to the loft. By the time he parked in the lot, he’d talked himself down from a panic attack three times. He was eighteen for fuck’s sake! He didn’t need this much fucking stress in his life already! Stiles thought he left that behind when he chose which college he was going to in the fall.

Stiles grabbed his stuff and made the climb up the stairs. “Seriously. I should talk to the building owner about installing a fucking elevator. So much more efficient.” Stiles mumbled to himself as he climbed the stairs when he reached Derek’s floor, Stiles praised the wolf for already having the door open for him. He took his usual place in the kitchen and began to cook. He started off by making homemade salsa and once that was done and chilling in the fridge, Stiles moved on to making the meat for tacos.

While that was browning, Stiles started making some guacamole and then chopped up the vegetables before freshly grating some cheddar cheese and then some mozzarella. Then he shredded up some pepper jack cheese for himself.

Once that was finished, he turned back to the stove and tended to the browning meat. He chopped it into bite sized chunks and made sure that it was fully cooked before he drained off all the grease. He opened the taco seasoning and dumped it into the meat and mixed it with the water before mixing it together and left it to simmer.

Stiles walked over to the fridge and pulled out the salsa and sour cream. He set them down on the counter before going back to grab drinks for the pack. He went to the cupboard and pulled out cups and plates and set them on the counter to put on the table later.

Stiles turned the stove off and poured the taco meat into a bowl and brought it and a few other items out to the table. Once he had the table set and the drinks poured, the pack began to trickle in and took their seats at the table. They waited patiently for Derek, who was late.

 

Derek finished packing and brought his bags downstairs and set them by the door. He heard the pack in the kitchen waiting for him with complaints about the food getting cold. It was now or never. He took a deep breath and plastered a smile on his face as he joined the pack for dinner. He knew that Stiles was cooking tacos and he couldn’t get the scent of overwhelming anxiety wafting off of the teen out of his mind. He wanted to ask what was bothering Stiles, but he probably didn’t want to know. But he couldn’t help but have that nagging feeling that something was wrong.

Anyway, he pushed it to the side for now and sat down to enjoy the food that Stiles prepared. Once he settled at the table, the wolves swarmed and they were falling all over each other to get at the food. Derek let out a low growl and the betas immediately settled down and made their food in a more civilized manner.

Derek nodded in approval as he started placing his own taco ingredients on his tortilla shell. As the pack at happily, Derek noticed that Stiles hadn’t touched any of the food. Strange. Stiles never skipped over taco night. And the smell of anxiety grew stronger as the night wore on. Derek was about to ask Stiles what was wrong when Lydia interrupted him.

 

Lydia sat next to Derek and watched Stiles carefully as she ate her taco with more normalcy than the others. She was beginning to feel terrible about this plan at the pure misery she could see coming off of Stiles. And it was really bad if Stiles skipped over taco night. It was his favorite pack meal.

She pulled out of her thoughts and looked back at Derek. She pulled the information out of her purse and slid it toward Derek. She made sure to put Stiles’ list in there as well. She wasn’t stupid. She knew that Derek planned on telling the pack that he was going to leave tonight. Hopefully, things went her way and Derek won’t leave and Stiles will finally get his head out of his ass, grow some balls and ask the Alpha out already.

“Hey Derek. I brought you that information that you wanted. I narrowed it down to a few agencies and photography studios and threw in a few things about how to prevent against the camera flash so you don’t accidentally expose yourself.”

 

Derek smiled softly at her and patted her hand. “Thanks Lydia. This means a lot.” He set the papers aside to look over later and went back to eating.

 

Stiles hadn’t touched any of the food. He couldn’t when his stomach was all twisted up in knots and his chest ached. It felt like his heart was breaking piece by piece the longer he sat there and listened to Lydia and Derek talk. Stiles calmly excused himself from the table and went back into the kitchen.

He wanted to go home. He couldn’t be here while the pack celebrated Derek leaving Beacon Hills forever and becoming famous and then the rest of the pack will follow and leave him behind, alone and forgotten. He needed to do something before he ended up having a panic attack. He looked through Derek’s cabinets and pantry to see if Derek had anything to make something for dessert. He piled the ingredients for brownies on the counter and decided to make a double batch. Or he’d just make brownies until he ran out of the ingredients for them.

If he could, Stiles would stay in the kitchen and bake the rest of the night if it meant he didn’t have to see the happy looks on their faces when Derek would tell them that he was leaving. He couldn’t stand by and pretend that everything was okay when it really wasn’t.

 

Derek wanted to follow Stiles into the kitchen, but he figured he should give Stiles some space. He could always talk to the teen later. In the meantime, he fixed some more tacos and ate and laughed with his pack. When the pack was finished, he had them clear the table before heading into the living room for movie night. Derek took the chance to look through the information that Lydia had gathered for him. He looked at the agencies and photography studios, making a mental note of which ones would benefit him the most. Out of the corner of his eye, a piece of paper caught his eye. He pulled it closer to him and noticed Stiles’ familiar scrawl written on it.

Derek skimmed over the paper and his eyes widened. He reread the items on the list carefully and finally understood why Stiles had been acting the way he had been. For the first time in days, Derek felt his wolf get excited.

_‘See! I told you he was our Mate.’_

Derek rolled his eyes at the smugness of his wolf. He didn’t know what to do. He still wanted to give the modeling thing a shot, but now that he knew how Stiles actually felt, he didn’t want to leave.

_‘Stay with Mate. If you leave Mate, it will break him.’_

Derek sighed. Who was he to argue with that logic? Now all he had to do was get the pack to leave so he could talk to Stiles alone. Maybe he could feign being ill. He shook his head. That’ll never work because they all knew that werewolves don’t get sick. He stood from the table and went to find Lydia. Derek knew the red-head could clear the room.

“Lydia, could you come over here for a second? I need to talk to you.” Derek said.

 

Lydia stood from her seat and tried to hide her smirk as she went to Derek. She stood before the Alpha and crossed her arms over her chest. “Yes?”

 

Derek raised an eyebrow at her before getting to the point. “I need you to get everyone out of here so I can talk to Stiles alone.”

 

Lydia couldn’t believe how perfectly her plan worked out. Actually, she could because she’s a genius after all. “Sure. But next movie night is all mine.”

 

Derek stared her down before he finally relented. “Fine. But one condition. No Notebook. We can watch whatever chick flick you want except for the Notebook.”

 

Lydia pouted. “Fine. But just so you know I have a huge collection of RomComs.”

 

“Duly noted. Now, get them out. I’ll give you money so you can go rent movies or something.” Derek said.

 

“Deal.” Lydia said and held out her hand and took Derek’s credit card when he handed it over.

 

Derek sighed in relief when Lydia and the rest of the pack quietly left the loft. Okay. He can do this. All he had to do was ask if Stiles could come out of the kitchen for a minute and then talk. The first part was easy but the actual talking part was the hard part. Derek took a deep breath before he walked into the living room. Okay. It was now or never.

“Stiles, could you come into the living room for a minute?” Derek asked.

 

Stiles was pulled out of his concentration by the sound of Derek’s voice. His eyes widened in realization and his heart started beating erratically. Oh god. This was it. This was the part where Derek was going to break his heart. With shaking hands, Stiles put down the wooden spoon and walked slowly toward the living room trying to delay the inevitable.

All too soon, Stiles was in the open space and looked around, refusing to look at Derek. He zeroed in on the suitcases by the door and Stiles couldn’t handle it. He began to pace and chew on his nails again.

 

Derek watched the teen for a moment before he stepped in front of Stiles. “Stiles please calm down. I just want to talk to you okay?”

 

Stiles finally looked up at Derek, fingers still in his mouth, nail chewed down to the quick and beginning to bleed. He didn’t want to hear it. He couldn’t because if Derek told him that they would never see each other again, Stiles wasn’t sure he would survive it.

“I don’t know if I’ll be able to handle what it is you have to say.” Stiles whispered out.

 

Derek’s wolf whined and clawed behind his chest. _‘Fix it! Mate is hurting. You have to fix it.’_

Derek took a step closer to Stiles and took his hands. “And what is it you think I’m going to say?”

 

Stiles looked away from Derek and down at their hands. “You’re going to tell me that you are taking Lydia’s advice and go to L.A. and become a famous model. And then you’ll convince the rest of the pack to join you and you’ll all be famous and go to parties and movie premiers and meet other famous people and models. And I’ll be left behind, all alone and forgotten. I don’t want to be alone Derek. And if you want me to be happy for you, then I’m sorry but I just can’t, okay?” he couldn’t help it. Once he got going, he just couldn’t stop and the floodgates opened up.

 

Derek pulled Stiles into a hug and tried to shush the teen. “Shh…it’s okay Stiles. Calm down okay because what I have to tell you is very important.”

 

Stiles wrapped his arms around Derek’s waist and had no intention of moving because for once in his life he was going to be selfish dammit. He finally calmed down and sniffled as he rubbed his face on the front of Derek’s t-shirt, wiping tears and snot into the fabric. “I’m listening.”

 

Derek chuckled at Stiles’ antics. “Are you going to look at me?”

 

“No. At least not until I deem whatever it is you have to say important enough to be graced with my full attention.” Stiles mumbled.

 

Derek shook his head fondly at the teen. “Okay. For starters, I wasn’t going to say any of that stuff. I mean, I did intend to tell everybody that I was going to leave tonight, but now I’m not so sure.”

 

A little flicker of hope lit up in Stiles’ chest. “Oh? And what changed your mind?” Stiles asked.

 

“Well, oddly enough, it was a little piece of paper written by a certain teenager that had ten pretty convincing points as to why I shouldn’t go to L.A.” Derek said, amusement lacing his tone.

 

Stiles yelped and tried to move away from Derek but the wolf had a tight hold on him. “Oh, uh, ha-ha, you saw that? And um, how did you get that by chance?” he asked nervously.

 

“Lydia gave it to me.”

 

“Ah. That makes so much more sense now. I think our pack has been playing matchmaker.” Stiles said.

 

Derek smiled. “I believe they have. I should do something nice for them.”

 

Stiles pulled back to look up at Derek. “Mm…yeah you should. But first, I think you should kiss me.”

 

Derek raised an eyebrow. “Oh really?”

 

“Yeah. It’s the least you could do for all the unnecessary stress and anxiety you’ve caused me these past few weeks.” Stiles said.

 

“I think that’s doable.” Derek said as he captured Stiles’ lips in a soft kiss.

 

When the pack came back, they found Derek and Stiles curled up together on the couch trading soft kisses. Lydia was smirking as the rest of the pack hooted and hollered as both Stiles and Derek blushed furiously.

 

“Alright, alright stop with the unnecessary noise you devious children. Go get the brownies I made so we can get to watching movies.” Stiles said as he curled back into Derek.

 

A few weeks later at the next pack night, Stiles and Derek were in the kitchen preparing dinner for everybody. Stiles handed Derek a glass of apple juice, looking at him expectantly.

 

Derek took a huge drink and smacked his lips together in thought before shrugging and set the glass down on the counter. “It’s not bad.”

 

 

 

 


End file.
